The Golden Compass question

I have been trying to find this book for a while, I read it a while back when I was in like fourth grade or around then so it was a book for younger people. The main parts of the book I remember are the fact that the main character was young and most of the other characters, and everyone had like familiars. The like villain part of the book I remember was that they had like a black goo that if the familiars ingested it or smth they became evil and attacked their like owner. Please help me find this book, Thank you! (this book is similar to the golden compass series but I don't think it is that)